1st Annual Softie Easter Parade!

I decided to put together an Easter Parade since everyone enjoyed the 1st Annual Softie Thanksgiving Day Parade so much! I know it seems like a long time until Easter but it's actually pretty early this year as it falls on March 23rd which is only a little over two months away. Plus, most of you that I know who regularly send in your photos to magazines are currently working on items for Spring already.

Anyway, there are a couple of changes from the Thanksgiving Day Parade format that I thought would make things a little more interesting and a lot easier for everyone. First of all, I added some categories for your Softie Entries to make voting easier (I kind of thought having almost 40 entries to vote on was a little much) and maybe a little more fun. The categories that I have come up with may inspire you to create something fabulous or something totally different than what you've created in the past. Next, I set up a Flickr group for you to put your photos in as you create. This will alleviate the problem of photos not getting to me via E-mail (darn Spam monsters) allowing everyone to participate. It will also give your creations a lot more visibility as there are a gazillion Flickr users worldwide. If you don't have a Flickr account yet, don't sweat it. Flickr is easy to set up, easy to use and best of all FREE! But if you really don't want to set up a Flickr account and still want to participate, mi mailbox es su mailbox, so feel free to send them to me there.

Now for a little more detail about the Easter Parade itself and the categories. The 1st Annual Softie Easter Parade to be held on my q.D.paToOtieS Blog, qdpatooties.blogspot.com, during Easter week which is March 16 - March 23rd. The Parade itself will take place with each category getting their own special day from March 16 - March 20th with voting taking place on March 21st and 22nd with the winners in each category being announced on March 23rd which is Easter Sunday. And yes, I will have prizes for the winners just as a did for the Thanksgiving Day Parade! We'll have a little bit of Blarney thrown in here as well with St. Patrick's Day sneaking in to give us a little Irish luck. With that in mind, I included a category especially for St. Paddy's Day for those of you who will be wearin' the green.

So here are all of the categories:

Bring on the Bonnets! - Softies with Easter Bonnets of all kinds.
A Bit of Blarney - Softies in shades of green or with any St. Paddy's Day Theme.
Who's the Hot Chick?Chicks, chickens, kids dressed as chicks - all are welcome.
Billions of Bunnies! Bunnies of all shades and sizes even kids dressed as bunnies.
Shades of Spring Softies in pastel tones - pink, blue, lavendar, mint, baby yellow. P

All photos are to be placed in the 1st Annual Softie Easter Parade Flickr file or can be E-mailed to me through my Blog E-mail address by March 9, 2008 so I can size them, write the descriptions, add the links, etc. When you upload your photos to the Flickr group, please read the main description of the group which has labels for your photos to make it easier for me to categorize them and so I know what category to place your entry in for voting. Also, please write your name, Blog name, and a little bit about your entry in the description of the photo so I have a little bit to go on when I'm writing about your creation in my Blog.

And remember, prizes, fun, oh, and did I mention, instant fame will follow? Put on your thinking caps and enjoy!

P.S. Feel free to grab the Avatar on your left and use it on your Blog to let everyone know you are participating. The more people who know, the more people who see your creations and, yeah, did I mention that instant fame thing?